How hybrid cloud and edge computing can converge in your disaster recovery strategy (Guest blog from Hyve)

Author: Daren Vallyon, Head of Solutions at Hyve Managed Hosting

In a modern landscape characterised by a reliance on technology and data, evolving threats and complexities require a robust disaster recovery strategy.

Disaster recovery (DR) is the process by which an organisation regains access to IT infrastructure and data in the event of a disaster. A DR strategy can include a combination of strategies to ensure recovery with minimal downtime and data loss.

In this article, we will explore how both hybrid cloud and edge computing solutions can work together to enhance your DR strategy and improve the resilience of your business.

The role of Hybrid Cloud in Disaster Recovery

Hybrid cloud incorporates different forms of infrastructure, commonly including an on-premise or private cloud environment in tandem with a public cloud. This strategy can bring many benefits to a DR strategy over solely using one type of environment.

Flexible recovery options

A hybrid solution gives you more options for recovery than a single form of infrastructure. Each form of infrastructure has its own benefits for DR - public cloud can offer quick scalability for failover in the event that your primary site has failed, while with private cloud and on-premise, you have your own dedicated resources to house backups, without potentially incurring costs for accessing this data. There are also areas where each form is weaker - large public clouds can experience slowdowns, particularly during peak times, and restoring solely from on-premise backup systems can also take valuable time. Utilising benefits of multiple types of infrastructure through hybrid cloud gives you greater flexibility to include multiple solutions in your DR strategy, covering more eventualities and reducing risk.

Mitigating risk

If you are relying on one form of infrastructure, a disaster can take out your entire operation. If your data is distributed between multiple forms of infrastructure, backups and redundant hardware can ensure your business continues running if a disaster hits.

Leveraging edge computing for resilience

Edge computing describes storing and processing data closer to its source, without the need to send all data to centralised data centres. Examples include Internet of Things (IoT) devices, regional data centres, or monitoring devices which locally store and process data, of which provide many benefits.

Reduced strain on resources

Edge devices and regional data centres can process data without needing to send it all centrally. When processing large volumes of data, keeping these on the edge and only sending metadata reduces the strain on your central resources, which can be beneficial in ensuring bandwidth availability for critical applications during the response to a disaster.

Reduced latency

In edge computing, data is stored and processed closer to its source. Removing the need for all data to travel to a central data centre or cloud server reduces latency, and enables quicker processing of vital data.

Combining hybrid cloud and edge computing

Hybrid cloud and edge computing are not mutually exclusive. There has been significant growth in hybrid solutions, distributing computing intelligently to combine the benefits of cloud and edge. A bespoke hybrid approach with proper planning and management can enhance your business’s DR strategy.

Scalability

Hybrid cloud’s scalability allows businesses to allocate additional cloud resources during a disaster. These additional resources can be allocated to potentially replace failed edge platforms and devices, maintaining critical applications and systems that are servicing the business needs, while reducing the pressure of the recovery process.

Speed and availability

The speed benefits of dedicated resources in a hybrid cloud solution are multiplied when combined with the reduced latency and enhanced availability of edge computing. Edge devices can be used to process data locally, and cache essential data which can be recovered to a cloud platform in case of a disaster.

Data enrichment

Processing on the edge and transmitting key information to the cloud can enrich your data, and inform your DR planning.

For example, in a large farming operation, devices are used to monitor water levels in the soil, and process this data to feed back on levels of watering needed. These relatively cheap devices process significant amounts of data, which, if sent to and processed at a centralised data centre, would be resource-intensive and cost-prohibitive. Processing this data at the edge, through the devices, and only transmitting the essential information, is more cost and resource effective.

Metadata from the edge devices can be transmitted to the cloud, and analysed to enrich your data. For the example of the farm, rather than all of the data, snapshots are sent to the cloud for analysis. This analysis is used for future predictions, streamlining processes and planning resources.

While your DR strategy plans for what happens when a disaster does happen, you should also focus on preventative measures, and data analysis is vital for this. Processing metadata through the cloud to enrich data can mitigate risk for many different operations. Predicting when there may be extra strain on your resources for example allows you to plan to scale up your resources at this point, preventing any potential downtime.

Backing up vital data

Cloud backups mitigate the risk of a disaster resulting in the loss of vital data. In the farm example, a disaster may result in one or more of the water monitoring devices being damaged. If you were solely relying on these edge devices for data processing and storage, all of your data would then be lost. If however you are using these devices as part of a hybrid strategy, vital data can be backed up to the cloud and kept safe in the event of a disaster. Rather than the financial and operational losses of losing this vital data, the operation simply needs to replace the damaged devices, often at a low cost. It is possible to have multiple on-premise environments to back-up your data, however this comes with large capital expenditure costs to set up and run. A hybrid solution using cloud to back-up your data gives flexibility and scale, typically without large upfront investment.

What next?

When implementing a hybrid approach utilising cloud and edge computing, you should consider your core business needs for your DR strategy. Processing certain data on the edge can be cost-effective, freeing up your cloud resources and reducing strain, mitigating the risk of potential disasters. Assess what data is critical, and cannot be lost. This critical data must be backed up, so your strategy should include safe storage of this data. Distributing your data between centralised cloud infrastructure, edge devices, and regional data centres gives opportunity for backups and redundancies, reducing the impact of potential disaster.

By combining the strengths of hybrid cloud and edge computing, a managed service provider can create bespoke infrastructure for your business that provides the necessary redundancy, scalability, and localised processing to ensure critical applications and data remain available and operational during and after a disaster. This collaborative approach reduces the risk and minimises the impact of a disaster, supporting business continuity and your bottom line.